Danbury High in running for state grant

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, December 12, 2007

She's thrilled her school expects to share a $13.2-million grant aimed at increasing the number of Advanced Placement courses and the number of students, especially minorities, who participate.

"I feel we're on the right track in the school and this will help," Soto said.

Soto said being Hispanic can be reassuring to students from similar backgrounds.

"It's beneficial that I have my background because it helps those kids who are like me and want to attempt a course like this," she said. "A lot of kids step up to the challenge."

The National Math and Science Initiative, backed by Exxon Mobil Corp., awarded the six-year grant to Connecticut and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

Up to 13 high schools in 10 urban districts are in contention to receive money from the grant, called "Project Opening Doors." The grant will pay for training more teachers to teach the higher level Advanced Placement courses and for materials, like lab science equipment, needed to serve more students.

The initiative awarded a $13.2-million grant to Massachusetts two weeks ago and plans to hand out 10 grants in all.

CBIA hired Cam Vautour, former superintendent of Rocky Hill, to administer the grant in partnership with the state Department of Education. Vautour is working with applicants to iron out details that will fulfill the grant and expects to finalize the agreements by next February. The goal would be to train staff in the spring and summer and offer more courses next fall.

Vautour was in Danbury Dec. 11 and expects the school district to be part of the grant.

"When I left central office, it was with the understanding we would formalize the agreement," Vautour said. "The steps are in place to craft a letter."

Danbury High has about 2,900 students who speak a total of 45 languages. The school offers 18 advanced placement courses with 391 seats.

"The theory is that if we have more seats, we might attract more students," Assistant Principal Michael Clarke said Wednesday.

"The number one focus of the funds will be the training of teachers to teach Advanced Placement courses. We have a lot of capable staff who will be very interested," Clarke said. "I think this is good overall for the school and the staff and students. Challenging students is a good thing, it gets them to do their very best."

Danbury High was one of the school districts CBIA hoped would qualify for the program, Lauren Kaufman, CBIA's education foundation director, said.

CBIA partners with the Danbury school district on the State Scholars Initiative, which paid for math and language arts labs to support students taking higher level courses.

"Danbury has made a lot of progress," Kaufman said. "They said 'We can expect more of our kids' and they put the supports in place to help them. It's very exciting."

The state Department of Education said this is a chance to give more opportunities to city classrooms for higher level classes. That will help the state and the students.

"We know that students can rise to the occasion and can exceed beyond expectations," department spokesman Thomas Murphy said. "CBIA recognizes that the students in Danbury High, New Haven and Meriden and other urban schools will stay in Connecticut while many of the suburban kids go on to college and don't come back to the state."

William Glass, Danbury's associate superintendent, said expanding higher level courses is the direction the district is headed. In the past seven years, the high school added nine AP courses.

"Contrary to traditional thought, our scores (on AP tests) have not gone down despite the increase in the number of students," he said.

Glass said the school district is seeing improved math scores across the district at the elementary level after ramping up its math program, which shows the need of laying groundwork for students to take higher level courses.

"You can't be cavalier about this. We have to have teachers who are highly trained, adequate space, and kids who are prepared to take the most demanding courses," Glass said. "I have high hopes for this. This will help us with our kids."